The invention relates to protective carriers for fragile articles generally and specifically to a protective, foldable, normally substantially flat, planar carrier body member covered with a substantially inelastic, air-impermeable sheet material defining a continuous, interior cavity filled with an air-permeable, resiliently compressible material exhibiting shape memory. The carrier body is bendable and foldable out of its normal flat plane in any direction simultaneously to completely surround articles of differing shapes. The carrier body is provided with means for detachably retaining the carrier in its wrapping configuration around an article. The embodiments shown and described herein are particularly suitable to protect a, fragile liquid-bearing container such as a wine bottle.
Protective covers for fragile articles, including bottles, are well-known in the art. Many of these are designed for transporting various items such as luggage, electronic equipment, sports equipment and other articles which are either fragile or easily broken or damaged if not protected. Various carrying cases, either with rigid or flexible outer shells, have a pad in some or all of the interior to prevent items in the case from shifting and breaking. Those with rigid outer shells or frames inhibit the effects of direct impact by providing strong outer structural support. These cases are principally used for shipping when the article is committed to handling other than by the owner as, for example, by some common carrier including air, rail and truck. Examples of these types of containers are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,624,035 ('035) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,402,892 ('892). These patents each disclose a carrying case having a plurality of hollow chambers; each including inserts to inhibit movement of articles within the carrying case. Inserts may be rigid or soft and shaped to hold a particular item, such as a computer and may also divide the interior into various different-sized cavities. Rigid inserts are generally not desirable because the do not always conform to the shape of the contained article and allow it to move during impact. They also transmit vibration which in some instances is undesirable.
Soft inserts have other drawbacks. They may not provide sufficient structural rigidity to the transport case as a whole. Cases with soft inserts can often crush. Soft inserts often are not secured to the interior of the case, permitting enclosed items to move about within the transport case and suffer damage.
U.S. Pat. No. '035 sought to attenuate problems arising from the use of soft, foam inserts by creating a blank defining six (6), individual, rectangular, hollow panels each filled with foam. Means are also provided for air-inflating the cavities containing the foam. These panels individually are attached to a thin backing layer of material coextensive with the shape of the blank defined by the panels, retaining them in their intended relative positions. Since the panels are structurally independent of each other and the back of each is attached to the backing layer, crease channels are generated at the intersections of the respective panels. These channels provide for folding of the backing layer without obstruction from the thickness of the panels to create a rectangular case having a conforming interior cavity. This is as shown in FIG. 2 of U.S. Pat. No. '035. The respective panels can be inflated individually or the panels can be interconnected with air conduits so that air introduced into the cavity of one panel will pass to and inflate all the others.
U.S. Pat. No. '892 discloses an impact-resistant wrapping system for packing fragile articles which comprises a sheet formed by sealing under pressure, two single or multi-layer laminated flexible membranes having gas or air barrier properties with cushioning-cellular material such as sponge foam confined in a single airtight cavity defined between the membranes. The wrapping system is normally flat and the cushioning-cellular material is compressed in the cavity. In construction, the elastic cushion material is normally placed in its compressed flat state in the cavity between the flexible membranes. This results in a thin sheet and a vacuum inside of the cavity. In use, the sheet-like wrapping membrane is wound or folded around the article and retained in its wrapping state with fastening members. Then, in order to produce cushioning protection, air is introduced into the cavity by opening an air valve or puncturing the surface of the wrapping system so as to admit air at ambient pressure to permit expansion of the cushioning-cellular material thereby expanding the continuous inner surface of the membrane against the article.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,729,259 ('259) shows an inflatable, generally cylindrical bladder open at both ends conforming to the shape of a baby bottle. The baby bottle is inserted into the widest open end of the bladder, nipple first, when the bladder is deflated. Valve means are provided to inflate the bladder after the bottle is inserted with the nipple projecting outside of the smaller or narrow, neck-end of the bladder.
Similar inflatable beverage insulator is shown and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,705,085, 5,845,806 and 5,135,132.